Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve at home this year. My mom came over early in the day to drop off gifts and let Emery open one of her presents early. Emery was so happy to get a new dress up kit and couldn't wait to get dressed up in her tutu.
We made dinner for my Mom, Grandma Lola, Auntie Silv and Uncle D. Well, the plan was that I would cook but I was still too sick to cook. So luckily, Ivan stepped up and cooked - with a smile on his face and all. Here is Emery helping make homemade macaroni & cheese.And Paisley hanging out her in bouncy chair while they cooked.
After dinner, Emery opened up a few more presents.
She got a pedicure kit and couldn't wait to start painting "pretty pretties" for herself. She also painted my toes as well.
Grandma Phyllis and Emery
After everyone left, we got ready for bed. We were sure to leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.
After all of the wrapping was done, it was apparent that Santa visited our house. Looking at the picture, it doesn't seem like a lot of presents. But, every single one was for Emery. She was happy with the amount of gifts and I guess that's all that matters right.
Christmas morning, Emery woke up around 9:15a and Paisley was still sleeping. This was perfect for me since I still wasn't feeling well. Emery actually forgot about the whole Santa and present thing and just wanted to start her morning like normal, with a cup of milk and watching Max & Ruby. We reminded her about Christmas and asked if Santa had come. She then ran to the living room and began opening presents.
Most of her gifts from Santa - her favorite was the Unicorn Pillow Pet.Paisley with her gifts from Santa.The famous Bullseye. There is definitely a story behind this gift. Emery got Jesse from Aunti Silv for her birthday and it became her favorite toy. Since she didn't have a real Bullseye horse, Emery turned a stuffed giraffe into Bullseye and would have Jesse ride the giraffe. I felt guilty that she didn't have Bullseye, so, for Christmas, I thought I would buy her Bullseye. If I had only known what I was getting myself into. It turned out that Bullseye was a hot item this year. The employees of Toys R Us literally laughed in my face when I told them I was looking for Bullseye. The told me when their next shipment came in and that they would be getting a whole 4 in for the week - really? Anyway, I resorted to bidding on EBay. The toy was normally $49.99. I was bidding up to $75 and kept getting outbid. Unfortunately, while bidding online, Emery saw Bullseye and then she really wanted it. Finally, someone at work told me to look on KSL. So, after 4 days of spending almost all of my waking moments searching for Bullseye, I finally got one. And, I only paid $25 more than the normal price ha ha.

So, Emery with the famous Bullseye.
And that night in bed with Bullseye. I joked that if it wasn't her favorite toy, I would send her to time out. I still think the silly $20 Unicorn Pillow Pet is her favorite toy but at least she likes the Bullseye toy.We went to Silvana's for Christmas brunch and unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. That should tell you that I was really sick and not feeling well. My illness aside, we had a wonderful Christmas. Emery still asks every couple of days if it's Christmas and if Santa is coming to visit. It's sad to see the look on her face when I tell her she has to wait a whole year for all of the festivities.

Emery's First Dance Recital

Here is Emery's class doing the penguin dance. Enjoy!

Mega Post Update

I've been back to work now for a couple of weeks and things have been busy around here. It's kicking my butt to work 40 hrs/wk, take care of 2 kids and the house. Plus, with the holiday's it seems like there is always something that I want to take Emery to. So, here is a mega post in an effort to get us caught up.

Paisley enjoying her new bouncy chair
Emery was mad at me about something but now I can't remember what .. (notice the hand on the hip - this girl has attitude when she wants to)
Emery has to try out all of the baby gear that she can squeeze her body into. She's put herself into the pack n play, carseat, bouncy chair and crib. I'm sure she can't wait for the high chair to be brought back out.
My girls playing in the crib together.
One of Paisley's first times in a normal outfit. She's HUGE! I bought a few outfits and she's currently in 6 month clothes. They barely fit her so she will be in 9 month clothes for sure by the time she's 4 months old. She sure likes to eat.
Emery's first dance recital was this week. The instructions were to have the girls' hair curled so I tried a few different things to see what worked best. First, I tried the good old sponge curlers. Emery loved them and kept them in all night while she slept. In fact, she didn't want the curlers to be taken out. I remember my mom curling my hair with these and I never imagined I would be curling my daughters hair with them.
Emery dressed in her Penguin costume for her dance recital. She looked so stinking cute!
The one and only picture of her on stage. I had to stay back stage with Emery until right before she went on stage. I sat on the floor next to the family to watch the show and then I headed back stage to get Emery after the dance. Emery's class was hilarious! We all agreed that it was the most we had laughed in a long time and the best $5 spent.
The girls with Auntie Silv
Emery, Aunt Elizabeth and Chelsea
Our cute little family ..
Thank you to all of our family who came to support Emery at her dance recital! It really made her feel special and loved!

I took the girls to the mall tonight to visit with Santa. After waiting for 1 hour, we were within 10 minutes of getting to meet him. Then, Emery said she had to go potty. I tried to make her hold it but she started doing "the dance" and I was afraid she would pee on Santa's lap. So, we left the line to take her potty, but before I did, I talked to the people behind me and said, "I've been in line for an hour and my daughter needs to go potty. Will you guys remember me and let me back in line when we get back?" Thankfully, they were understanding and let us back in line. We ended up having to wait an extra 10 minutes but it's better than another hour!
Paisley being cute while hanging out in her carseat
My girls ..
After we visited Santa, I took Paisley to get her ears pierced. I was a little apprehensive about taking her without Ivan, especially since I had Emery with me and the mall was packed. But, as usual, Emery was a good girl and just hung out in Claire's while we pierced Paisley's ears. She entertained herself by dressing up in all of the accessories in the store.
Paisley went to bed right after we got home so I don't have pictures yet of her pierced ears. They will come soon. Also, South Towne no longer lets you take your own pictures with Santa (I was not happy about this) so I will work on posting their picture with Santa soon. My $24 picture by the way.

Emery's Nap Time

Today's nap time included:

1. putting on "lips" from her dance class backpack
2. drawing on the chalkboard in her room
3. opening the blinds in her room to look out the window
4. putting on every pair of shoes she owns
5. cleaning out her toe jam (she's obsessed with this and is nice enough to clean out Paisley's toe jam too - sick!

All in all, I'd say we've had more successful nap times. After 2 hours of this, I finally gave up and let Emery get up. Let's hope she's not too cranky for the rest of the day.

Funny Things Kids Say..

I was up this morning with Paisley while Emery was still sleeping. Paisley started crying when I put her down to change her diaper (apparently she thinks I can change her diaper while I hold her but I'm not quite that talented).

After I was done changing Paisley's diaper, Emery called me into her room. She was sitting up in bed with a very cranky look on her face. This is what she had to say:

Emery: "Mama, what is all of that crying, crying, crying?"
Me: "Paisely was crying because she wanted me to hold her"
Emery: "Why was Paisley crying in my room? I don't want Paisley crying in my room. She woke me up."

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the cranky look on her face - it was hilarious. She was so mad that Paisley woke her up.

Paisley's Hip Dysplasia Update

We had our follow up appointment and ultrasound today for Paisley. We started out with the ultrasound and Paisley was so good while getting the ultrasound. Emery was with me and I think she was a little freaked out by the atmosphere and watching Paisley lay there. After the ultrasound, the radiologist came in to read the results. She told me the results and the numbers and I knew right away that Paisley's hips were not where they should be. I immediately had a fear that the pediatric orthopedist would tell me the harness was not making enough progress and we would have to take more extreme measures.

However, after a 90 minute wait (don't you love that about Dr. appointments) we finally met with the Dr. The good news is that the Pavlik Harness is working. Paisely's left hip is 100% normal and right where it should be. The right hip still needs some work.

So, we are down to 18 hours per day in the harness. I went to the appointment expecting to go down to 12 hours per day. There is something about motherly instinct that amazes me all the time. When I was packing the diaper bag for the appointment today, I thought about packing a cute "normal" outfit for Paisely to wear. There was just something holding me back and I decided not to.

Throughout this experience, Paisely has adjusted very well. She has never fought the harness or cried from being in it. I feel like I have had to do way more work with adjusting to it. I finally have and I'm fine with the harness. I know that we are doing what we need to to make sure Paisley is happy and healthy as she grows. There is still a part of me that misses all of the cute little outfits, but it is better for our finances that I can't buy them right now.

We go back in 5 weeks (it should be 4 weeks but the holiday's pushed us out another week) for another ultrasound. If all goes well, we will be harness free at that point. Once we got home today, I immediately took off the harness and let Paisley go harness free for 6 hours. It was wonderful! I worried about her fighting it after having it off for so long but since we have been so blessed with easy going kids, she was totally fine when I put it back on.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers for Paisley!

Thanksgiving Week Wrap Up

We had a great Thanksgiving week that included a ton of activities. Makayla joined us for the week and it was great being able to spend time together. She was a huge help to me with both girls and Emery was so happy that Makayla was her buddy for the week.

Just a random picture of me and my girls!
Emery dressed up in Makayla's boots, hat and gloves trying to be a big girl gangsta
Sweet Paisley enjoying some harness-free time .. it started like this
and quickly went to ..
Makayla and Paisley
We headed up to Heber Valley the night before Thanksgiving to do the Polar Express Train Ride. We had never been before but thought it would be a fun outing. It was quite cold (it was the day after the huge BLIZZARD here in Utah where most businesses closed early for the safety of their employees). While we were in Heber it got as cold as -6. We bundled up and ended up being fine with the cold. We stopped to eat at a BBQ place right by the train station and had a great dinner.
I had to bribe Emery with a huge gumball to get a picture of her. The whole gang waiting to board the train .. This guy was standing next to the train as the customers were getting on. As soon as Emery saw him she said, "Papa, is that the Muffin Man?" Too funny! Ivan has a CD in his car of kids songs and her favorite song is the Muffin Man.Emery and Makayla visiting with Santa. He stopped and talked to the kids for a few minutes and then gave them each at top.Thanksgiving day started with much anticipated playing in the snow. This was the first time this year Emery had played in the snow. Makayla was patiently waiting since the day she got here to get to play in the snow as well. First off ... snow angels
Then eating some snow ..
And making snowballs to throw to Carter
Later that day, we hosted Thanksgiving here at our house. We had a small guest list but it ended up being great food and great company.

Auntie Silv with PaisleyAfter dinner we made a Gingerbread HouseEmery wanted a piece of candy and thought she had to get it with no hands ...
The day after Thanksgiving the girls and I went to the movies to see Tangled. We saw it in 3D and Makayla brought the glasses home. We all really enjoyed the movie and Paisley slept through most of it.

Emery's 3 Year Stats

Emery's well baby visit went smoothly today. She had to get 2 shots and took them both like a champ. She didn't cry at all. She's one tough cookie!!

Height - 36 1/4 inches - 30th percentile
Weight - 29 lbs - 25th percentile

Emery Turns 3 !!!

We had Emery's 3rd Birthday Party on Sunday, November 7th. She is obsessed with Spiderman, so we had to make the little girl happy with a Spiderman birthday party. We had a great turn out and I think this was Emery's favorite birthday party yet. Thank you to all of our friends and family who came to share in celebrating Emery's birthday!

My girls ... I promise, Paisely was happy, she just gives that face sometimes :)
The Spiderman cake I made. After being successful with the Elmo cake for Emery's 2nd birthday, I was confident that this cake would be just as easy and didn't do a trial run. I didn't even bake the cake until 9p the night before and the party was at noon. As soon as I took the cake out of the pan/mold, I went into panic mode. The outline of the design didn't show up at all and I was tempted to go to the store to just make more cupcakes and ditch the whole cake. However, Emery had been looking forward to her Spiderman cake for weeks, so I went for it. So, I basically did the design by hand and looking at the picture of the cake. I impressed myself!As you can tell, the cake was also yummy! I ended up finding little hand prints of red throughout my house on doors and door frames. Good thing it came off easy.Emery was spoiled as usual. She got a ton of toys, including her very own scooter. She loves to ride the scooter from the living room to her room on her way to bed every night.
As we started to sing Happy Birthday, Emery was excited ...and then a little embarrassed ..
At the end of the party playing with her Spiderman Web Toy (silly string)
And lastly, a few key items on Emery at 3!!

• Has some imaginary friends that go everywhere with her. They include: Spiderman, Max & Ruby, Jessie and the Witch
• Is obsessed with Spiderman (hense the Spiderman birthday party). Emery says she is Spiderman, Ivan is the bad guy and Paisley and I both are Mary Jane (but she says Mary Jame)
• Everything is "no, I do it myself"
• Is the best big sister! She does a great job of giving Paisley her binky and "shhshing" her when she is fussy and I'm not able to get to her
• Tries to get up from nap time 15 minutes after being put down and saying "Good morning" - nice try Emery!
• Picks up every single thing I say and is a "mini me" for sure.
  
• Absolutely loves to rough house with Papa and be thrown around whenever possible
• Still sleeping well - usually 930p to 830a. However, she likes to come into our room between 3-4a nightly and get in bed with me to cuddle.
• Nicknames are Mama and Em

Emery is the best little girl. I cannot believe she has been in our lives for 3 years already - the time has flown by. She makes me the happiest person in the world. She is so sweet and kind hearted and hilarious at the same time.